Each year floods occur in many parts of the world and cause huge damages to agriculture, homes, schools, hospitals, highways, industries, and environment. They also cause loss of animal and human lives. Looking at the history of floods and damages caused, it is evident that they are amongst the costliest natural disasters and impact hundreds of thousands of people each year. It is widely accepted that floods cannot be eliminated entirely. However, they can be managed to mitigate the loss of life and property. Revisiting the types and causes of floods, this presentation focuses on the challenges in flood management.
The challenges are both technical, including hydrometeorologic, hydrologic, hydraulic, and structural; and nontechnical, including education, communication and Internet, legal, administrative, risk analysis, and skilled professionals. The challenges are seemingly disparate disciplines so the emphasis here is on their integration. Compounding these challenges is climate change whose impact can be assessed but whose forecast in space and time is still a challenge. The presentation is concluded with a personal reflection on paradigm shift.
Keywords: Natural disasters; climate change; management; paradigm shift
Professor Vijay P. Singh is a University Distinguished Professor, a Regents Professor, and Caroline and William N. Lehrer Distinguished Chair in Water Engineering at Texas A&M University. He received his B.S., M.S., Ph.D. and D.Sc. degrees in engineering. He is a registered professional engineer, a registered professional hydrologist, and an Honorary diplomate of ASCE-AAWRE.
He is a Distinguished member of ASCE, a Distinguished Fellow of AGGS, and an Honorary Member of AWRA, and a fellow of EWRI-ASCE, IAH, ISAE, IWRS, and IASWC. He has published extensively in the areas of hydrology, irrigation engineering, hydraulics, groundwater, water quality, and water resources (more than 1320 journal articles; 31 textbooks; 75 edited reference books; 110 book chapters; and 315 conference papers). He has received more than 95 national and international awards, including three honorary doctorates. He is a member of 11 international science/engineering academies.
He has served as President of the American Institute of Hydrology (AIH), Chair of Watershed Council of American Society of Civil Engineers, and is currently President of American Academy of Water Resources Engineers. He has served/serves as editor-in-chief of three journals and two book series and serves on editorial boards of more than 25 journals and three book series. His Google Scholar citations include: 65120; h-index: 113, and I10-index: 993.
Department of Biological and Agricultural Engineering & Zachry Department of Civil Engineering
Texas A&M University
321 Scoates Hall, 2117 TAMU
College Station, Texas 77843-2117, U.S.A.
Phone: (979) 845 7028
Email: vsingh@tamu.edu
Website: https://baen.tamu.edu/people/singh-vijay/